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| I have to vent regarding some pet peeves I have with Craigslist ads. I regularly check Craigslist for Ovations and I'm continuously frustrated by listings that say something like: "Vintage Ovation guitar, great condition, $300" without listing a model number, age or any other pertinent details other than something useless like, this is my favorite, "has original strings." If they don't know what model it is, how do they know it's worth $300? One recent ad did have a photo of the label but it was completely out of focus and unreadable. My other pet peeve has to do with sellers who fail to take down their ads when sold. I'll call, be told the guitar has been sold but the ad is still up two weeks later. They must be lonely and like getting phone calls.
Sorry, but I just had to get it off my chest. |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | Also the sellers who never respond. An ad for an Ovation 1537 ended up in the Dallas, TX craigslist with a price of $150. The pics looked good and the description said like new. I looked up the town where it was and found out it was in Oklahoma. So what, a 4 hour or so drive for me. I was visiting a brother in law who is a Kiowa Native American. I asked him if he ever heard of the town as he was from Oklahoma originally. He told me it was a reservation town near where his oldest son lived. I probably messaged the seller 3 or 4 times a day for over a week with no response. We called my brother in law's son and asked him to check local newspaper to see if it was listed in classifieds. It wasn't. He told me if the guy got in touch with me he'd go pick it up for me and bring it down to Texas so he could visit his dad. I practically begged the seller to respond but to no avail. A few times I've gotten replies on other ads a week or two late telling me item was sold. I hear ya! |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | I have a hard and fast rule concerning for sale ads.
I refuse to chase after someone to give them my money. If they don't respond, then I move on. Period. |
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| DanSavage - 2017-06-19 5:41 PM
I have a hard and fast rule concerning for sale ads.
I refuse to chase after someone to give them my money. If they don't respond, then I move on. Period.
Same here. I'll rarely check on anything without a price.
I make exceptions if it's in my town or close and it would be easy to go see or a specific guitar that I've been after.
I suppose if they don't list the model you might have a seller that doesn't know much about it. In that case it could be over or under priced. |
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Location: When?? | 1) Free advertising. 2) Liars and flakes being liars and flakes. Sadly impossible to avoid under such a combination.
For things like guitars, it seems you have to stay directly on top of the Craigslist postings, like a couple of times per day, if you are serious about pouncing on a decent deal. If you live in a medium to major market, and you respond to a CL ad for a typical item like a guitar that has been posted for 2 or more days, it's best to assume going in that it isn't all that great of a deal or it would have already have been snatched up by someone who monitors the lists in frequent time. It the olden days we had to go down to the newspaper office to get the first edition off the press in order to do any decent pouncing. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | DanSavage - 2017-06-19 2:41 PM
I have a hard and fast rule concerning for sale ads.
I refuse to chase after someone to give them my money. If they don't respond, then I move on. Period.
Yep.. me too.
In fairness, we are all guitar nuts. The vast majority of people selling, especially on Craigslist or Facebook, have no real idea what they are selling from "OUR" perspective. From their perspective they spent at least 5 minutes googling something and made their ad based on that information.
I don't fault them. It's not their thing, they are just sticking a sign out saying they got something for sale.
As far as taking down listings... I admit I am guilty of that as well. Craigslist does not make it easy to manage ads. I only worry about taking things down from places that will cost me money if I don't take them down. My reminder is when someone contacts me about something that was already sold... then I take it down.
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Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | Dave Kell welcome back. You have been gone far too long! Good to see that you are still in this mortal coil and still have interest in all things Ovation!! |
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Location: Utah | Along the same general lines, I am getting very annoyed at online sellers who don't actually have the item in stock. I needed a critical part for my motorcycle and it has a 3 week lead time from the factory. Yet everywhere online sellers claim to have them. One e-bay seller even stated he had 2 available, so I ordered from him, but nope. This has happened to me several times this summer with various kinds of items. |
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Location: Flahdaw | One problem is CL is that people will set their account up with an email addy that they very rarely use. Consequently, by the time they finally get around to checking that email inbox, weeks may have gone by. Several times I have responded to a listing, only to get a reply back that says something like "Sorry, I just opened your email blah, blah, blah....I seldom check this inbox blah, blah, blah..." Pisses me off. |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | DanSavage - 2017-06-19 4:41 PM
I have a hard and fast rule concerning for sale ads.
I refuse to chase after someone to give them my money. If they don't respond, then I move on. Period.
You did notice it was a 1537 for $150 right? |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | DaveKell - 2017-06-20 8:42 AM
You did notice it was a 1537 for $150 right?
Of course.
But, to me, even that kind of deal is not worth the aggravation. Life's too short and there's a whole world of guitars out there.
Like I wrote, I refuse to chase after someone to give them my money. Period. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I am currently trying to sell a car and, after numerous spammers and scammers, I can relate to the sellers who don't respond. I've become gun shy about contacting someone who responds to an ad, particularly if they want me to text or email with additional information that anyone with a legitimate interest would know.
On the other hand, I used to contact sellers of Ovations and inform them of mistakes in their ads. After a few "if you're not interested in buying it, don't bother me" responses, I quit doing that. One guy was quite rude and told me I didn't know what I was talking about, but later corrected his ad. |
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| I get the best response from sellers who accept texts, although, at some point, it's better to have a conversation rather than exchange 10 texts to agree on a time and place to meet.
Despite my rant, I have to say that my experience with CL sellers who are responsive, has, on balance, been pretty good.
My wife is disabled and I've made some good CL deals on a modular wheelchair ramp system ($2k for what was $20k new), a wheelchair "elevator" ($600 vs. $6k), etc. I guess the difference is that the sellers rarely paid out of pocket for the items. If only the same was true of guitars. |
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Location: Seacoast NH | "Original Strings"! God do I cringe when I see that. Who the hell deems that a point of value?! |
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| mbedard - 2017-06-21 12:38 PM
"Original Strings"! God do I cringe when I see that. Who the hell deems that a point of value?!
Or, "has one broken string" -- That has to knock off at least $100 off the price. |
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Location: When?? | People who advertise guitars with original strings are getting guitars confused with classic Mustangs.
People who advertise guitars with one broken string are getting guitars confused with 1993 Toyotas.
People who advertise guitars with an emphasis on the word "vintage" need to look up the actual definition of vintage.
Edited by Love O Fair 2017-06-22 12:06 AM
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Location: When?? | Oh, and people who advertise guitars as a precious family heirloom need to realize that we aren't related. |
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| Here's one that's currently posted on CL (and Reverb) and, surprisingly, is brutally honest but overpriced given the issues noted:
https://modesto.craigslist.org/msg/6145177458.html
1976 Ovation 12 string acoustic electric made in USA - $375
1976 Model 1615-4
The good:
Electronics work perfectly.
Neck joint is solid.
Bridge is secure, and not pulled away from body at all.
Soundboard is flat, and not warped at all.
All original, except one tuner knob has been changed.
The bad:
If you are familiar with these guitars, you know they are known for a few flaws.
The soundboards crack.
The necks twist.
This one is no different.
Has 3 cracks in the soundboard.
One of them is all the way through.
Usually you will see far more than 3, so it's not too bad by comparison.
I have seen far worse.
The neck has a slight twist.
Action is high on the bass side.
Absolutely common for this model, from that era.
Still a very playable guitar, but has those 2 problems.
Pretty significant fret wear, but that is to be expected for a guitar over 40 years old.
The price is far under market value.
Fresh set of silk n steel strings.
No case.
Send phone number if interested.
I will call you.
Will consider trades for gear of equal value. Guitars, amps, whatever.
Just tell me what you have to offer.
Edited by BCam 2017-06-22 10:03 AM
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Location: Texas | You gotta bait the hook, if you are going to catch something |
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Location: Flahdaw | jay - 2017-06-22 11:28 AM You gotta bait the hook, if you are going to catch something 
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Location: Utah | Where's the eye bleach? |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Woof! Where's the brain bleach?! |
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| I just saw one this morning that made me chuckle despite they're not mentioning the model:
Ovation 6 string acoustic guitar with hard shell case - $300 (winters)
Ovation guitar from the late 70's. Plays with a lot of volume. Minor defects both sides of the bridge. Includes Ovation hard shell case, Korg tuner, Kaiser capo, strap and a rare Doritos pick. Gig ready. Will be in Carmichael Fri. 6-23 after 11 am and can show it there. Can be there earlier if necessary.
I want that rare Doritos pick! I tried real Doritos and they don't work very well.
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Location: When?? | Meat bees. Annoying little suckers when they descend upon your camp site.. but I found the solution many years ago. Bring with you a pack of baloney and drape the slices over limbs of trees that surround the outer reaches of the camp site. Make sure the limbs are small (1/2" diameter or so) so that there is a lot of dangling baloney, and the bees will gladly go to those instead of being attracted to your food. Thing is, after a day or two the baloney dries hard and loses its bee attraction properties, so it's best to bring enough to have fresh for the full duration of your trip. Anyway, the point is that you haven't lived until you have hand crafted a line of custom guitar picks made from dried, brittle baloney. Doritos picks are child's play. |
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Location: NJ | I have had mostly poor experiences with craigslist both as a buyer and seller
but when they work out they work out well
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| I just ran into another misleading Craigslist ad. I knew it was too good to be true: Ovation Legend Acoustic Guitar - $100 
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Location: Lawrenceville (NE metro Atlanta) | Yea, I see that a lot (people trying to pass Applause guitars off as Ovations) Although some of them are getting pretty good. Have you seen the Applause AE44II Elite? |
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Location: When?? | Jim: I need to sell a guitar I found.
Joe: What kind?
Jim: The kind with a plastic back.
Joe: Lemme see it. I'll try a chord I know.
Jim: Sure. Hold my beer. Be right back.
::returns::
Jim: Here. I hide my bong inside, so it kinda smells.
Joe: Wow, dude.. this is an Ovation! My cousin had one.
Jim: But it says 'Applause'.
Joe: Doesn't matter, man. It's their best. I've seen these.
Jim: How much is it worth?
Joe: Whoa.. dude, like, a lot. At least a hundred bucks.
Jim: Cool.
Joe: Yeah.
Now, if next time Jim would actually find an Ovation Legend, this could turn out to be a great story.
In the meantime...
Reel in, re-bait, cast. Reel in, re-bait, cast......
Edited by Love O Fair 2017-09-03 7:34 PM
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Hey Now... I paid $94 for a Plastic topped AA12 Applause.
A year later I sold it for $99 (after shipping and fees).
So these must be worth a hundred bucks to someone. 
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Location: When?? | @Arthur - "So these must be worth a hundred bucks to someone."
Heck yes. Yours even turned a profit! |
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Location: NJ | well craigslist is kinda special |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | As venues like eBay and Craiglist get more popular and mainstream, you will see this more. In most cases, the scenario that Love O Fair put out is pretty spot on. Just because someone is selling something, doesn't mean they know, or even care to know details. They list it... someone buys it, or corrects them, they really don't care. It was a gift, they found it, it belongs to an ex... bottom line.. people list stuff all the time they know nothing about. |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | Mr. Ovation - 2017-09-05 5:36 AM
As venues like eBay and Craiglist get more popular and mainstream, you will see this more. In most cases, the scenario that Love O Fair put out is pretty spot on. Just because someone is selling something, doesn't mean they know, or even care to know details. They list it... someone buys it, or corrects them, they really don't care. It was a gift, they found it, it belongs to an ex... bottom line.. people list stuff all the time they know nothing about.
"... it belongs to an ex". I had to laugh because I recently saw a mint Gibson J45 custom on OfferUp for $300.00. I messaged about it immediately and a woman messaged back it had sold in the first half hour. I couldn't restrain myself, I asked her if she realized it was worth ten times her asking price. She matter of factly responded that she knew what her ex husband paid for it and that she just wanted it gone and didn't care about the money she left on the table. That got me in the habit of checking OfferUp frequently. Since then I've bought 3 guitars I flipped for minimum $120 profit on Craigslist. Still wish the J45 hadn't gotten away! |
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Craigslist Rant